


Stanley Kowalski

by belmanoir



Category: due South
Genre: Established Relationship, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-07
Updated: 2012-04-07
Packaged: 2017-11-03 05:05:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/377599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/belmanoir/pseuds/belmanoir
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>A man like that is someone to go out with--once--twice--three times if the devil is in you. But live with?</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stanley Kowalski

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted in ds_flashfiction for the Marriage Challenge. (Also, while reading scenes from _Streetcar Named Desire_ for this fic, I discovered that Stanley Kowalski's sign is Capricorn--the Goat! Coincidence?)

"Well, you know Fraser," Vecchio says. "He's always depended on the kindness of strangers."

"You do not quote that play, Vecchio!" Ray snaps. "That play is out of bounds."

"Huh?" Vecchio asks, looking confused for a second. Then he smirks. "Oh, right. Sorry, Stanley."

"Why the hell do I put up with you?" Ray mutters, pissed off all out of proportion and not sure why.

"Well, Ray," Fraser says, his eyes gleaming with amusement, "I suppose there are things that happen between a man and two other men, in the dark, that sort of make everything else seem unimportant."

"Oh, you too, huh, Fraser?" Ray demands, his knuckles starting to itch like they want to hit something, and he hides his hands in his pocket because that's _exactly_ what he can't do.

"That wasn't in the play." Vecchio eyes Fraser suspiciously, but he sounds unsure, like maybe he just forgot the gay threesome in _Streetcar Named Desire_.

"Well, no, Tennessee Williams specified a man and a woman," Fraser says, "but I took the liberty of paraphrasing." They snicker, the two of them, like this is the funniest thing in the world, and suddenly Ray is so mad he can't see.

"That is not funny. That is not fucking funny. Stanley Kowalski is a piece of shit who hurts his family. I do not hurt you." Ray has a sudden flashback to Fraser standing by the water with blood in his mouth, Ray's hand tangled in Vecchio's vest and his fist drawn back. He ignores it. "So it's just about the sex, huh? Are you saying that all we've got is some irresistible animal lust? I know I ain't all educated like you two but I am not some violent Polack who's a savant at fucking, okay?"

Fraser looks shocked and guilty. "Ray, I certainly never meant to suggest---"

"Yeah, well, you did." Ray stares at the two of them for another few seconds, but there don't seem to be any more words in his head. He turns around and very carefully doesn't punch the kitchen wall on his way out of the room.

He lies on their bed and listens to Fraser and Vecchio talking---low, worried voices in the kitchen. It's just like home, like his parents. _Whatever will we do about Stanley?_

After a few minutes he hears footsteps and a loud knock on the door that somehow conveys threat, uncertainty, and bravado all at once, although maybe that's just because he knows it's Vecchio.

"What?" he snarls.

"Can I come in?"

"Do whatever the fuck you want," he says. "It's your room too."

Vecchio opens the door and comes and sits on the edge of the bed. Ray turns his face away. "Hey," Vecchio says. "Ray."

Vecchio _never_ calls him that. Ray looks at him. "Yeah?"

"You were right," Vecchio says, and flushes when Ray's jaw drops. "I'm sorry. I didn't know it bothered you so much."

Ray shrugs. He already feels stupid about the fuss he made. The giant bundle of naked insecurity that came out of his mouth. "It's no big deal. I'm just on edge, I guess."

"You ain't stupid, Kowalski. No one thinks so." He looks puzzled. "Stella doesn't even think so. Just you. And you're sharp as fucking nails."

Ray knows exactly who thinks he's stupid. His dad. Who named him Stanley Kowalski and wanted him to go to college. He doesn't want to get into it. He shrugs again.

"And yeah," Vecchio says, keeping going even though he is getting absolutely nothing from Ray, and that is one of the great things about Vecchio, he does not fucking give up, "this isn't just lust. The three of us are partners. This is love. Okay?"

"Okay," Ray says, because Vecchio deserves something after that. He makes himself grin. "I am pretty good in bed though, huh?"

Vecchio kinda smiles. "The best," he says, his voice soft, and leans down and kisses Ray. It's not a hungry open-mouthed kiss like Vecchio's usual. It's just a little affectionate press of the lips, the kind that's not about sex, just about saying hello. 

It's a married kiss.

Vecchio gets up. "I'm gonna go make sure the sauce isn't burning. You want me to shut the door on my way out?"

"Nah," Ray says. He's too chicken to say it until Vecchio is almost out the door, and then he blurts out, "I love you, Vecchio." It feels weird, because they don't do that. They've _never_ done that. Fraser does, sure, and they say it back to him because he's Fraser, and it's not like it isn't _true_ , but Ray and Vecchio have never said it to each other. Sometimes Ray notices this empty space in their conversations where it's supposed to go, at the end of phone conversations or at the airport or when Vecchio makes a really great breakfast. 

And yeah, Vecchio _looks_ taken aback, but he doesn't miss a beat, just says, "I love you too, Kowalski," and continues on to the kitchen like that was totally normal. The most natural thing in the world.


End file.
